THE Great North Air Ambulance has released a breakdown of the 1,060 emergencies it attended last year.

The air ambulance, which is funded through donations, went to 292 traffic collisions, 172 medical emergencies and 27 industrial accidents.

It was also called out 52 times to help people injured riding horses, went to 14 rugby matches and attended nine farming accidents.

Chief executive Grahame Pickering said: "We cover a broad range of incidents, some of which are difficult to categorise but we have broken them down into groups.

"Road traffic collisions are a big proportion of our workload. These are frequently life-threatening incidents and it is common to see serious injuries."